Breath of Fire IV Import Review

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Read our full impressions of the Japanese version of Capcom's latest RPG. It's old-school, baby.

By IGN Staff

Two years ago, Capcom released Breath of Fire III for the PlayStation, which was an update to the series originally made for the Super Nintendo. The game focused more on old-fashioned role-playing action instead of 32-bit upgrades. The company has recently released the latest game in the series, titled Breath of Fire IV, which is in many ways very similar to its predecessor. In fact, when I first sat down with IV, I was instantly reminded of my younger days, playing games like the original Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger and the like.

As in Breath of Fire III, you play as the main character of Ryu and you're capable of turning into a dragon and have the ability to use magic. But this time around, you seem to have a slight case of amnesia. The story actually starts with Nina and Cray, who are searching the desert for a missing princess. As Nina, you come across Ryu, who doesn't seem to know who he is or where he's from. Together, you journey to a nearby town to get some parts for Nina's broken sand speeder and find out who Ryu really is. The story starts to unfold from here, with info about Ryu and about the missing princess slowly coming together. Tons of cut scenes throughout the game help fill in the story piece by piece.

Graphically, the game has been improved considerably. Not to say that the visuals in III were bad, but everything in IV looks a lot more real. Characters are still a bit anime-like, but are taller and more detailed than the previous game. They're way short of a game like FFIX, or even Legend of Dragoon in terms of realism, but it's simply a different look than those two games. The characters and backgrounds look pretty good for the most part, however there are some textures that are overly pixilated (like the sand being kicked up from your speeder), but nothing that will really turn you off completely. The camera system is a bit unique, allowing for 360-degree control at times, while only 90 degrees or even none at all at other times. You are in 360-degree fields, except for instances like when you're climbing up the face of a mountain and rotating the camera any more would result in you being on the other side of the mountain, unable to see yourself. However, in areas that allow 360-degree rotation, the biggest problem is that there are only four turns of the camera until you're back where you started. This causes some areas to be difficult to see, as a rooftop or cliff is likely to be in your way since the camera is so zoomed out (with no zoom control). And there's always a door or item or character that's obscured beneath that object. Overall, the camera system is fine as it is; it just would've been better had you had complete 360 degree scrolling of the camera.

Your party can have up to six people, but only three may have a turn in succession. Your characters are lined up at the bottom of the screen and you're free to choose which ones go. You must choose all three characters before anyone attacks, but since it's turn-based, it's not a big deal. In the case you choose a character from the rear, he/she will change places with a front character who wasn't selected. The battle system contains all your basic functions and adds a few different combos systems and the dragon system, where Ryu and the character of Fou-Lu can turn into dragons, and thereby use magic ala Legend of Dragoon. Skills can be learned by the master/apprentice system or another system where you can occasionally learn the techniques of your enemies.

There are tons of what might be called mini-games, but are probably better referred to as controllable events. For example, a man has information that you need, but insists that you treat him to some food and drink at the bar in order for him to talk. Two of your controller buttons are for food and two are for drink. The price of each drink and dish are different. The man tells you he wants to be "satisfied," without getting drunk or too full. You need to decide on what to buy him, while keeping an eye on the gauges for "drunk," "satisfaction," and "full" as well as your wallet. Like most of the events like this, it's very easy, but since it's so short and simple, it does make a routine conversation a bit more interesting. The popular fishing part of the game also returns, this time with fishing controller support! Unfortunately, I have yet to find the place that will sell me the proper in-game fishing equipment, so I'll have to wait a while to test the waters.

The game moves along briskly, but is kind of simple. None of the "puzzles" have really been challenging and the path you follow is very straightforward. Even some of the big bosses who make early appearances, only to retreat to reappear later in the game haven't been that tough. I have been playing the game for a number of hours and have yet to die. Items are in abundance and you're always finding/earning or buying more. What can I say, my nine year old brother liked the SNES Breath of Fire five years ago and he could easily handle this one too. But, I enjoyed the SNES one five years ago too, and I enjoy this one now. The series has always featured simple, yet solid gameplay, so I don't feel that the lack of difficulty is that much of a negative.

Despite its improved look, Breath of Fire IV seems like a throwback to older RPG games, which it has always been. After hours upon hours of playing games like Evergrace, Zelda: Majora's Mask and Mega Man Legends 2, it's actually nice to sit down and play a "true" RPG for a change. However, anybody looking for a massive overhaul to the series will likely be disappointed. That being said, for what it is, Breath of Fire IV is a very solid RPG. The story is fine, as are the graphics and gameplay. There's also a bit of humor involved, especially with the character Master, who is quite comical. Things like the old shaking of the head yes or no, drops of sweat next to the person's head, characters getting "pushy" and pushing other characters back, etc. Despite being underwhelmed by the big titles out there, like FF IX, Chrono Cross, and Legend of Dragoon, it's still a quality game that draws you in and is fun to play. This game, along with Dragon Quest VII later this month, shows that 2D sprite characters in 3D backgrounds are still a viable option when it comes to RPG's.